Loom harness lifter equalizing construction



Dec. 18,1962 w. R. WALLING LOOM HARNESS LIFTER EQUALIZING CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 14. 1960 mLL/HM 1Q. WQLL/NG Dec. 18, 1962 w. R. WALLING LOOM HARNESS LIFTER EQUALIZING CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 14, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IIHNVENTOI Mun/w B MAL/N6 United States Patent Office 35%83? Patented Dec. 18, 1952 3,tl68,9l7 LQOM HARNESS METER EQUAHZWG QQNSTRUCTHQN William R. Waiting, 4469 Ave, North Hollywood, (Ialift'. Filed Nov. 14, 19nd, Ser. No. 69,1334 8 (Jlainss. (Q1. 139 -36} This invention relates generally to hand looms wherein there is provided a plurality of vertically movable harness'es and is more specifically directed to a construction for facilitating the smooth movement of harnesses up and down during operation of the loom under the control of the user.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial No. 700,828, filed December 5, 1957, now Patent 2,960,115, issued November 15, 1960.

Hand looms of the general type shown in my patent referred to above are well known and include generally a plurality of vertically movable harnesses arranged in parallel relation in a harness housing or frame. Each of the harnesses carries a large number of heddles or small loops through each of which runs a selected one of the warp threads. Raising of the harness raises its heddles and thus their respective threads. The operator actuates selected harnesses from their lowermost rest positions to raised positions by means of selected treadles in the lower front portion of the loom. Each of the treadles is connected to one or more of the harnesses by suitable means whereby downward movement of a treadle, as by the application of foot pressure by the operator, results in upward movement of the harnesses controlled by that particular treadle. Even a small loom has at least four treadles and it is not uncommon to provide as many as eight treadlcs which are necessarily laterally spread across the front of the loom. Each of the harnesses is caused to rise by the downward movement of a horizontally disposed transversely extending member or lamm, which is the structural member to which the downward force of a treadle is first applied.

Because of the substantial lateral spacing or spread of the treadles and the fact that any one lamm may be forced downwardly by any one of two, three or more treadles, the point of application of downward force imposed upon a given lamm by a treadle will be laterally spaced by a substantial distance from the point of application of downward force imposed upon the same lam-m by a different treadle. There is thus a substantial tendency for a lamm to cant, twist or be otherwise deformed and unsymmetrical in its application of the harness lifting force to the remaining portions of the lifting apparatus, and such deformation may seriously bind the mechanism or otherwise make it operate less smoothly than desirable. It is to be kept in mind also that not only may a single lamm be actuated by a number of different treadles spaced laterally across the machine, but also a single treadle may actuate two, three or even more larnms. As a consequence it will be seen that smoothness and ease of operation are important to prevent fatigue to the operator during use, and these factors contribute also to making the downward force on various treadles as nearly uniform for the several treadles as is possible in view of the different numbers of'lamrns actuated by different treadles.

The present invention is directed to construction by which to equalize the lifting force transmitted by a lamm to a harness regardless of the location along the length of the lamm where the lifting force is applied by the downward movement of a treadle. In the preferred form of the invention hereinafter shown and described in detail, there is provided a pair of spaced wheels for each lamm, the wheels of a pair being rotatable about horizontally spaced axes through a partial revolution upon downward movement of the lamm associated with such wheels. Desirably the lamm and wheels are interconnected by suitable tension members such as pivotally connected links and the wheels themselves are interconnected by equalizing means by which to insure that rotation of one wheel is matched by equal but opposite rotation of the other wheel. The equalizing means may take the form of a rod or bar pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the wheels or by flexible cable means as hereinafter described. The outer arcuate surface of each of the wheels has wound partially therearound a flexible tension member such as a cable or the like which extends to a lift actuator of the type shown in my patent referred to above. The relationship of the lamm and the laterally spaced pair of wheels is such that a partial revolution of such wheels corresponding to full vertical movement of the lamm associated therewith results in movement of the lift actuators from their lowermost positions to their uppermost positions, thereby lifting the harness from its lower or rest position to its upper position. Since the equalizing means interconnecting the Wheels of a pair require the wheels to turn through exactly equal angles, and since this angular movement is translated into lifting movement of the laterally spaced lift actuators for raising the harness, it will be seen that the pair of lift actuators are necessarily moved exactly the same and distortion, canting and unevenness of operation are avoided. Furthermore, the construction of the present invention permits the lamms to be so located as to substantially facilitate the changing of the treadlelamm connecting means when desired, as during tie-up when preparing the machine for weaving according to a new pattern.

Accordingly it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel construction for equalizing the lifting force on a loom harness regardless of the location of the point of force application along the lamm. Additional objects and purposes include the provision of such a construction having a pair of rotatable members which are caused to rotate through equal angles but in opposite directions during operation; to disclose a construction of the character stated particularly adapted to relatively narrow looms; to disclose a construction wherein loom lamms are so disposed as to facilitate tie-up of the loom when changing weaving patterns; and for other objects and purposes as will be understood from a study of the following description of exemplary embodiments of the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a harness loom embodying the present invention.

PEG. 2 is a view taken on line 11-11 of FIG. 1, with parts broken away, except that the front lifting apparatus and its corresponding harness are in raised positions and the left treadle is depressed.

PEG. 3 is a view looking downwardly onarrows III- III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of an alternative form of construction in accordance with the present invention otherwise corresponding to FIG. 2.

PEG. 5 is a view looking downwardly on arrows V--V of FIG. 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, there is shown in HG. 1 a harness loom including a generally rectangular base portion indicated generally at It), a transversely extending warp beam 12 rotatably supported on the frame at the rear of the machine, a transversely extending breast beam 14 at the front end of the machine and a vertically oriented harness frame indicated generally at 16 and disposed substantially centrally of the machine.

A set of foot-operated treadles indicated generally at 13 are pivotaliy connected at their rear ends to the lower cross bar 29, the treadles serving to raise one or more harnesses within the harness frame 16 when the treadle is depressed in accordance with well-known methods of operation of this apparatus. The harnesses of the loom are indicated as a group generally at 22 and are individually slidable vertically within the harness frame 16, there being four harnesses exemplarily shown in the present embodiment of the invention. It will be understood that the structure thus far referred to is conven tional in the loom art.

Beneath the set of harnesses 22 there is provided a group of harness lifting devices indicated generally at 24, there being a lifting device for each of the harnesses in the group 22 vertically slidable in the harness frame 16. As Will be seen in FIG. 2, the front harness lifting assembly includes a pair of spaced wheels and 32 mounted for rotation about horizontally aligned axes 31 and 33 respectively of shafts whose forward ends are carried by the transverse structural member 34. Wheels 36 and 32 have fixed thereto radially extending arms 36 and 37, to the outer ends of which there are pivotally connected the upper ends of downwardly extending links 38 and 39 respectively.

A horizontally extending rigid member of lamm 40 is pivotally connected at its ends 41 and 42 to the lower ends of the links 38 and 39 respectively.

Means are provided for equalizing the rotary movement of wheels 3t and 32 during vertical movement of lamm 48. in the present preferred embodiment of the invention, such means include an equalizer bar 44 extending between the wheels 39 and 32 and pivotally connected at its ends 45 and 46 to the wheels 30 and 32 respectively, the points of pivotal attachment of the equalizer bar 44 being vertically displaced. Thus, the pivot point 4-5 is below the axis 31 of the wheel 30, while the pivot point 56 is above the axis 33 of wheel 32, the axes being in horizontal alignment.

leans are provided for translating rotational movement of the wheels 3% and 32 into vertical lifting movement in order to move the front harness indicated generally at 58 upwardly within the harness frame 16. Such means are here shown as including a pair of lift actuators indicated generally at 52 and 54 respectively on the left and right portions of the harness, each of the actuators being rotatably journaled about horizontal support rods 53 and 55 respectively, the front ends of the rods being supported on the transverse structural member 34. The lift actuators are provided with respective elongated arms 56 and 5%, on the outer ends of which are mounted abutment members desirably in the form of rollers 57 and 59 respectively. Actuators 52 and 54 moreover include downwardly extending arcuate portions 60 and 62 respectively, around which extend flexible tension members such as cables 64 and 66 respectively. Each of the cables extends between a lift actuator and the adjacent one of the wheels 3t and 32, and is fixed at its opposite ends to the respective actuator and wheel. Thus the cable 64 may lie in a peripheral groove formed in the arcuate portion so of actuator 52 and near its end extend radially inwardly through part of the arcuate portion to terminate at an enlarged clamping element 70 serving to retain the end of the cable as shown. The other end of cable 64 extends partially around the periphery of wheel 3 being desirably received in a peripheral groove thereon, and extends radially inwardly to an opening 72 in the wheel and is there fixed in position by an enlarged clamping element 74. Similarly, the cable es is fixed at its one end by an enlarged clamping element 71 to the arcuate portion 62 of the actuator 64- and extends around the periphery of the arcuate portion, the other end of the cable 66 being fixed to the wheel 32 as by an enlarged element 75 in the opening 73 formed in the Wheel.

The lamm 40 is moved downwardly under the control of the operator by one of the treadles 18 in the lower front portion of the loom. For this purpose, a number of spaced openings are formed along the length of lamm 46, each opening being substantially in vertical alignment above one of the treadles 18. Thus opening in lamm 4i"; is vertically aligned above treadle 82 and is connected thereto by a tension member 84, desirably in the form of a relatively stiff wire or thin rod adapted to hook at its upper end to lamm and to be connected at its lower end in known manner to the treadle 82. Other lamms are similarly connected to various treadles. Any one lamm may be connected to one or more treadles, and any one treadle may be connected to one or more lamms, as required by a particular design to be woven.

it is to be noted that the abutment members or rollers 57 and of the actuators move upwardly into movable abutting contact with the lower transverse member 86 of harness 5'3, such upward movement of the lift actuator being caused by the movement of cables and 66 which result in turn from rotation of the Wheels 30 and 32. It is particularly to be noted that wheels 39 and 32 are required by the present construction to rotate through virtually equal angles by reason of the rigid equalizer bar 44 extending between the two wheels and pivotally connected thereto. in order that such angular movement of the two wheels be equal, the pivotal points of attachement of the equalizer bar to the wheels should be symmetrical. That is to say, the points of pivotal attachment to the two wheels should be at equal radii from the respective axes of their wheels and the pivotal points should be equally and oppositely displaced angularly from vertical lines passing through the centers of the wheels. Thus, during operation the pivot point 45 will be exactly in vertical alignment with the center of Wheel 3% at the same moment that pivot point 45 is in vertical alignment with the center of wheel 32. in this way, the forces imposed by the lift actuators 52 and 54 upon the transverse lower harness member 86 will be equal and there is consequently virtually no tendency for the harness to twist or cant during its upward slidable movement in grooves formed in the harness frame.

An alternative form of the present invention is shown in FEGS. 4 and 5. This construction is particularly applicable to relatively narrow looms and the parts in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be identified by reference characters greater than the corresponding parts in FIGS. 2 and 3. In accordance with this embodiment of the invention, the equalizing means between the two wheels 130 and 132 include a pair of cables extending therebetween. The cables, indicated at lift) and 112, extend from the lower portion of one wheel to the upper portion of the other wheel, being fixed at their ends to the respective wheels by suitable means such as enlarged clamping elements 114 in openings H6 formed in the wheels. Desirably, the cables 11% and 112 may be slightly spaced from one another, each of the cables being received in spaced peripheral grooves formed in the respective wheels. Thus, with particular reference to PEG. 5, it will be seen that cable 112 is received in peripheral groove 121 in wheel 13th and in peripheral groove 122 in wheel 132. Correspondingly, cable 11% is received in groove 123 in wheel 13% and in peripheral groove 124 in wheel 132. Actuator cables 164- and 166 are received in peripheral grooves 125 and 126 of the wheels 1156 and 132 respectively. It

' is to be understood that the parts as seen in FIG. 5

are somewhat exaggerated as to their spacing in order to emphasize the construction referred to.

Accordingly it will be seen that there is here provided means by which to reliably equalize the angular movement of a pair of lift actuators which serve to raise a harness from spaced points along the bottom of such harness. Modifications and changes from the specific forms of the invention herein illustratively shown and described may occur to those skilled in the art. All

such modifications and changes are intended to be embraced within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a loom having a plurality of laterally extending vertically oriented harnesses and a plurality of actuating treadles, each harness being mounted for slidable vertical movement in a harness frame between a lower rest position and an upper operative position in response to depression of a selected treadle, the provision of means for raising each harness comprising: a pair of wheels beneath a harness rotatably journaled on the loom about laterally spaced horizontal axes; a pair of laterally spaced, generally vertically extending links and means pivotally connecting their upper ends to the wheels at corresponding points spaced from the wheel axes; a horizontally disposed lamm extending laterally below said wheels and above the treadles and pivotally connected at spaced points to the lower ends of the links; means interconnecting said lamm with a selected one or more of the treadles whereby downward movement of a treadle moves the lamm downwardly and thus partially rotates the wheels; means for translating rotary wheel movement into upward lifting force applied at laterally spaced points to said harness; and means for equalizing rotary wheel movement during downward lamm movement.

'2. The invention as stated inclaim 1 wherein said equalizing means includes a rigid bar pivotally connected at its ends to corresponding points on said wheels spaced from the wheel axes.

3. The invention as stated in claim 1 wherein said equalizing means includes a pair of flexible tension members interconnecting said wheels and extending at least partially around the wheel peripheries whereby their tension insures equal angular wheel movement.

4. The invention as stated in claim 1 wherein said translating means includes a pair of lift actuators rotatably journaled on the loom about horizontal axes spaced from said wheel axes and provided with correspondingly curved peripheral surfaces, and a pair of flexible tension elements extending between the wheels and actuators and extending at least partially around the wheel peripheries and said peripheral surfaces.

5. In a loom having a plurality of laterally extending vertically oriented harnesses and a plurality of actuating treadles, each harness being mounted for slidable vertical movement in a harness frame between a lower rest position and an upper operative position in response to depression of a selected treadle, the provision of means for raising each harness comprising: a pair of rotary members beneath a harness rotatably journaled on the loom about horizontal axes; a pair of laterally spaced, generally vertically extending links and means pivotally connecting their upper ends to the rotary members at corresponding points spaced from said axes; a horizontally disposed lamm extending laterally below said rotary members and above the treadles and pivotally connected at spaced points to the lower ends of the links;

6 7 means interconnecting said lamm with a selected one or more of the treadles whereby downward movement of a treadle moves the lamm downwardly and thus partially rotates the rotary members; means for translating rotary member rotary movement into upward lifting force applied at laterally spaced points to said harness; and means for equalizing rotary member rotary movement during downward lamm movement.

6. The invention as stated in claim 5 wherein said rotary members are provided with correspondingly curved arcuate peripheries and said translating means includes a pair of lift actuators rotatably journaled on the loom about horizontal axes and provided with correspondingly curved peripheral surfaces and a pair of flexible tension elements extending between the rotary members and actuators and extending at least partially around said peripheries and said peripheral surfaces.

7. Loom harness lifting apparatus comprising: a treadle normally in raised rest position and selectively depressable to lower operative position; a pair of rotary members mounted above said treadle for rotary movement about horizontal axes; means interconnecting said treadle and rotary members for moving said members through equal angles in response to vertical treadle movement including a horizontally disposed lamm extending transversely of the treadle and an equalizer bar extending between and pivotally connected to corresponding points on the rotary members spaced from said axes; and a pair of laterally spaced lift actuator elements operably connected with said rotary members for translating angular movement of the rotary members into vertical movement of the lift elements.

8. Loom harness lifting apparatus comprising: a treadle normally in raised rest position and selectively depressable to lower operative position; a pair of rotary members mounted above said treadle for rotary movement about horizontal axes and provided with correspondingly curved arcuate peripheries; means interconnecting said treadle and rotary members for moving said members through equal angles in response to vertical treadle movement including a horizontally disposed lamm extending transversely of the treadle and flexible tension elements extending between the rotary members and at least partially around said peripheries; and a pair of laterally spaced lift actuator elements operably connected with said rotary members for translating angular movement of the rotary members into vertical movement of the lift elements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,576,428 Towle et a1 Nov. 27, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 505,161 Great Britain May 5, 1939 

